Russian tennis player Kafelnikov raises daughter on his own

On September the 1st Moscow sky was covered with clouds that poured our annoying rain drops. But such bad weather didn’t spoil the joyful mood of schoolchildren’s parents. Their faces expressed the same glad thought: finally the summer is over and their children will now be under teachers’ supervision during most of the day.

Eugene Kafelnikov, a tennis player, together with his mother Valentina Feodorovna took his second-grade daughter to school. His former wife Maria Tishkova, a model, was not anywhere to be seen. Five years ago Sochi court ruled that the only decent caretaker of then a three-year-old Olesia should be her father-sportsman, whose wealth then amounted to nearly $20 million.

The girl’s mother, on the other hand, was not in the best parent shape: no registration, no permanent job, plus a member of a sect – Maria was attending the “ Church of Christ ” meetings. After a bitter divorce Olesia stayed with Kafelnikov’s parents in Sochi while Eugene himself was gone most of the time. As for Tishkova – she was not allowed to see the girl.

Last year Kafelnikov purchased a luxurious apartment in Moscow for his mother and father so that his daughter could study a capital city school. The girl was accepted into a prestigious institution with in-depth study of foreign languages. Both parents were present on her first day of school when she began attending the first grade. Many began hoping that Olesia’s parents had found a way to communicate and stopped trying to claim her.

However, this time around Tishkova did not come to send the girl off into another school year. Even Eugene didn’t fulfill the parent’s duty all the way – he only took her to the gates and then hopped into his “Mercedes-gelendwagen” and drove off.

There are rumors that Kafelnikov is having financial trouble. It appears he is drowning in debt: 100,000 euro worth of taxes for the house in Switzerland, 6,000 euro worth of gardening companies debts… And even the golf business, which Eugene pursues now instead of tennis, is not going smoothly. It may be that Olesia will eventually end up living with her mother.